A Thin Porridge by Benjamin J. Gohs
When 19-year-old Abeona Browne's renowned abolitionist father Jon Browne dies in summer of 1860, devastating family secrets are revealed, and her life of privilege and naiveté in Southern Michigan becomes a frantic transatlantic search for answers—and someone she didn't even know existed.
Still in mourning, Abeona sneaks aboard the ship carrying her father’s attorney Terrence Swifte and his assistant Djimon—a young man with his own secrets—on a quest to Africa to fulfill a dying wish.
Along the journey, Abeona learns of her father’s tragic and terrible past through a collection of letters intended for someone he lost long ago.
Passage to the Dark Continent is fraught with wild beasts, raging storms, illness, and the bounty hunters who know Jon Browne’s diaries are filled with damning secrets which threaten the very anti-slavery movement he helped to build.
Can Abeona overcome antebellum attitudes and triumph over her own fears to right the wrongs in her famous family’s sordid past?
So named for an African proverb, A Thin Porridge is a Homeric tale of second chances, forgiveness, and adventure that whisks readers from the filth of tweendecks, to the treachery of Cameroons Town, across the beauty of Table Bay, and deep into the heart of the fynbos—where Boer miners continue the outlawed scourge of slavery.
Author Bio
Benjamin J. Gohs is a longtime award-winning news editor whose investigative journalism has included stories of murder, sex-crime, historical discovery, corruption, and clerical misconduct. Benjamin now divides his time between writing literary thrillers and managing the community newspaper he co-founded in 2009.
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Review
This was one of those books were you learn as you read. Pieces of literature like this, especially in the era of Black Lives Matter, are needed. People in the UK grow up knowing about slavery etc but we aren’t taught the history of it in schools. I think we believe we are distanced from it that it didn’t happen on our shores and we had no hand in it. But that is not the case. Even our buildings are tainted - how many people in Glasgow will know that The Mitchell Library was funded by profits made from slavery? Yes the basic plot made be about reuniting a family but it’s the scenes round that story that can help illuminate that history and expand people’s knowledge. It may even pique someone’s interest and they might explore this area of history and that’s when you know this book has done its job. History geek overload there!
Right, at the beginning I didn’t like the main character Abeona as she came across as privileged, entitled and a tad selfish. She had no idea about how many people, black people, lived and suffered in the US etc. But as the book progresses and she experiences life and the realities behind the slave trade I began to like her. But then I think that is the authors doing as this is a coming of age book, showing the education of Abeona into the harsh environments many find themselves. I enjoyed the plot of Abeona finding her sister and discovering more about her father’s life before he left for America. I was more drawn to John’s story though and wish I could have found out more details etc.
It’s the racism and slavery parts that will stay with me as it’s this that represents the truth in this book. Men and children being sold like cattle, being forced to love their ‘fathers’, black men being forced to discipline and punish their fellows slaves. I can’t pretend to understand how it is live as a black man or woman in this world but I think it is important to educate oneself. We shouldn’t have to have periods of history like abolishment of slavery, the civil rights movement and now Black Lives Matter. We should just treat everyone in the world as equal, as human. I know this is a very simplistic view and the reality is so much more complex. I think Benjamin has been very clever with this book. Yes, it’s an adventure story, a coming of age story but he has slipped in so many nods to black history that it makes this novel multi-layered and educational. I adore historical fiction like this. It’s also a good introduction for people who don’t know a lot about the subject.
In short - read this book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
